World Cup qual. - Mourinho 'considered England''

Eurosport - Tue, 07 Oct 18:02:00 2008

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has admitted he considered being England coach and also turned down an approach from Portugal to succeed Luiz Felipe Scolari in the summer.

FOOTBALL 2008/09 Serie A Inter Mourinho - 0

The Internazionale boss was one of the bookmakers' favourites to take over after Steve McClaren was sacked following England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

He was out of work at the time having left Chelsea in September last year but decided he wanted to remain in club management.

"In a certain moment I considered being England national manager, first of all because I was in love with the football country and with England - I was also happy there - and secondly because if you have one country where the prestige of the national team manager is huge, it is England," he said.

"But at the same time my passion for the day-by-day work, my passion to train every day, my desire to play every week and if possible more than one game a week, this is my life. That's the life I want to have."

That is one of the reasons why he also turned down his native Portugal when they approached him about succeeding Chelsea-bound Scolari - a job which was later taken by former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.

"I always had in my career project the Portuguese national team job as one of the last moments of my career but they tried to press me to do it early," Mourinho told FeelFootball.

"Sometimes you have to jump out of this road you built - but they understand that I cannot do it now.

"But I want to have the experience of coaching my country one day. I would like to make my family very proud, and I'm sure one day they will be very proud when I become Portuguese national manager.

"I [prefer] club [over country] because at this moment I'm a club manager and it's the kind of job I enjoy.

"The national team job is not the kind of job that motivates me - it's a completely different profile."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

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  1. Why does he want to go back to England - because nobody­ give him attention in his new place? Well, maybe he­ will go to Newcastle or Bolton as 'special one'­ and started to talk as he used to do while he was with­ chelsea. Shame!

    From ayomoshe2, on Mon 20 Oct 3:41AM

  2. Please read this(on ESPNsoccernet

    Internazionale­ striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has hailed Jose Mourinho as­ ''the most complete coach'' he has­ played under and believes the former Chelsea and Porto­ coach has already had a huge impact on his­ career.

    GettyImages

    Peas in a pod: Ibramhimovich and­ Mourinho.

    Often inconsistent and temperamental Sweden­ international told the club's official website:­ ''In only two or three months with him I have­ learned a lot, perhaps more than what I have learned in­ the last five years at the same­ level.''

    ''[Moruinho] is most­ certainly the most complete coach that I have ever had.­ I think he can help me improve a­ lot.''

    Reading between the lines of­ Ibrahimovic's comments is seems the striker holds­ littlel lasting respect for Mourinho's predecessors­ in the Nerazzurri hot-seat, Fabio Capello and Roberto­ Mancini.

    Mourinho joined the Italian champions this­ summer replacing Mancini, who guided Inter to three­ successive league titles before being dismissed.

    The­ self-styled 'Special One' has already achieved­ success at Inter with his team winning the Italian­ Supercoppa in August, and after six games Inter are­ joint Serie A leaders alongside Lazio and Udinese and­ remain unbeaten in the Champions League.

    From akinola, on Thu 16 Oct 12:06AM

  3. I'm sorry to say maurinho not as good as arsene­ wenger..Such a *** 4 maurinho..

    From FenDI a, on Sun 12 Oct 9:40AM

  4. The fact that all these is said about this man shows he­ is great, if not the greatest! I wish he were in the­ premiership. From the moment he laid his feet on the­ England soil, every attention was on him!
    How could any­ body say he is not a good manager. Where were they when­ he won all these honors?
    You can hate the man, that I­ accept. But when you say he is not a great coach, Every­ One starts laughing.

    I love you, Mourinho

    From Michael, on Sat 11 Oct 7:08PM

  5. robertjohnsmail- i cannot b bothered to read ur long­ essay. its tiring zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 3:45PM

  6. robertjohnsmall, what are you winging about. Cappello­ is one of the most successful coaches in the world­ today, far more than Mourinho from statistics and­ diversity perspective. Mourinho did well in Portugal­ for 2 years and then with I-buy-any-player Chelsea for­ 2 years. Cappello won championship EVERYWHERE He went,­ even with the poorly financed Roma and the troublesome­ Juventus. when he landed in Real, they were in crisis­ and falling behind and he made them champions. Mourinho­ makes a lot of bad noise but Cappello does not. So even­ if Mourinho was willing to take the job, Cappello is­ way better anyway. If you are a true England fan, enjoy­ the moment because England seems to have rediscovered­ the joy and manner of playing and winning, and get­ behind the team because it is going in the right­ direction. and don’t worry, England will not win­ anything anyway because it is not used to winning­ trophies –a stolen world cup and a couple of long-gone­ trophies in the entire history of the country..

    From Half A Brain, on Wed 8 Oct 9:19AM

  7. what a load of drivel...
    walcott has 1 good game and­ owens @#$% ?
    lets set things straight,owen has­ performed on the big stage time and time again.
    its all­ about whos playing to form at the time.
    thats the­ bloody managers job,picking the inform players and the­ ones that can handle the pressure !
    you lot probabley­ haven't even played a game of football in the last­ 10 years.
    show a little more repect when hiding behind­ your p.c.
    if owen hits form, capello will without doubt­ call him up.
    simple as that,now go kick a ball around­ and try figure things out a bit better before shouting­ your mouths off....!

    From Adam B, on Wed 8 Oct 6:00AM

  8. Robertjohnsmall, i agree with most of what you said,­ but England DO have someone of that calibre. His name­ is Fabio Capello.

    I wanted Mourinho for the England­ job, But Capello is a wise choice; he is a winner with­ the highest pedigree and experience. Plus he picks­ Walcott and not Owen :)

    From Kal C, on Wed 8 Oct 3:26AM

  9. @ robertjohnsmall

    you are spot on, man.

    From dila, on Wed 8 Oct 2:24AM

  10. A lot of you people are moaning about how how Mourinho­ was a cretin; a shyster; how he ruined the premiership­ and you are glad that he did not get the England job. ­ WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?

    For one, if you feel­ that bribery of referees is only a characteristic out­ of the premiership, then you are sadly mistaken. One­ need only tune in any week to see some of the most poor­ refereeing in the world take place in the premiership. ­

    Secondly, I was embarrassed to see that someone of­ his quality even consider the job. If he did, then he­ clearly isn't the footballing genius that I think­ he is. Which brings me to another point made by one of­ you. What would you rather have, some­ shrinking-violette book-passer who when under pressure­ would blame anyone but himself (the boss) for the­ disappointing performances England are so used to­ delivering. I'll bet you are the kind of people­ who sat there saying ' that there Steve McLaren,­ he'll come good eventually!'.

    I understand­ that we do need someone like Alex Ferguson to get that­ team together. But mark my words, he will absolutely­ not represent England as manager! Anyone who thinks he­ would touch the England job with a ten-foot barge pole­ is, again, sadly mistaken. Why would he? To fail? I­ am as patriotic as the next man and have been a life­ long supporter of the game, but wake up! Providing we­ have the absolute dross that represent English­ football, in the form of the FA, then I can't see­ England winning anything - certainly not in my life­ time.

    If someone like Scholari, Mourinho, or any­ other high profile manager who can talk a good game,­ has a CV that glisten, and reeks of metallic scented­ success then I would do anything to get that man on­ board!

    Why can't we? The FA pick the team. ­ That is why they are still considering Owen, and the­ rest of the bunch who up until now have delivered­ nothing! Do you think Mourinho would pick Owen? I­ don't! Would he have played Walcott? Yes! Think­ about it!

    From robertjohnsmall, on Tue 7 Oct 8:22PM

  11. As a few have said the PL is the loser without him. I­ never thought he was 'special' to be honest, I­ always saw him as a bit thick but he cultivated a new­ style and arrogance which we may never see again. Also­ in his favour is that he could command the full respect­ and friendship of the players by the way he handled­ them. A few down to earth words never did anyone any­ harm. You could see that from his antics on the­ training ground last night with his new boys. I suspect­ also he was not entirely in it for the money, which is­ rare. I would have been happy to see him as England­ manager rather than any of the last 5 or 6 ( excluding­ Bobby Robson who was great and a statesman )

    From taff, on Tue 7 Oct 8:07PM

  12. im so glad that jose is not coming back to our country­ for the time being. this place is way better without­ that man

    From Suzy, on Tue 7 Oct 8:00PM

  13. Of all the good and bad you can say about him,­ you've got to admit the premiership is a duller­ place without him. Can you see so many people show so­ much passion about any of the other managers in any of­ the English leagues?

    From BBC 2, on Tue 7 Oct 7:17PM

  14. people who say s**t about Mourinho have a same size of­ mouth with him..:)

    If you are an owner of ambitious­ club surely you will put Maurinho at top 5 of the­ manager that you want to hire...no top 3 it is...!

    From Andrie S, on Tue 7 Oct 6:48PM

  15. jose dont mind them.let them say whatever they like.u­ are special.

    From oludare, on Tue 7 Oct 6:36PM

  16. So Chelsea fans are "muppets" and can't­ read properly?

    A bit rich coming from a bloke who­ CAN'T SPELL.....What's a "befoe?"

    From stevjohn3715, on Tue 7 Oct 6:35PM

  17. I do wish you Chelski muppets would learn to read.­ Because as i said befoe i said win & not buy just­ think about it!!

    From tc, on Tue 7 Oct 6:20PM

  18. I do wish you Chelski muppets would learn to read.­ Because as i said befoe i said win & not buy just­ think about it!!

    From tc, on Tue 7 Oct 6:20PM

  19. Mr Tony C, the special one won 6 trophies viz:2 epl­ titles, 2 carling cups, 1 FA cup and 1 community­ shield. He has also reached the semi finals of the­ champions league more than once. So shut ur f@#*&^g­ mouth u "GONER"

    From onyeukwu, on Tue 7 Oct 5:58PM

  20. And shettyranjit, you really should check your facts­ before spouting such rubbish....F.C Porto were­ Champions League WINNERS a few years ago under Jose,­ they're hardly a rich club.

    From melaniepoynton, on Tue 7 Oct 5:53PM
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